The NeverEnding Labyrinth
by Anyastazya
Summary: My parody of Labyrinth, you can figure out the rest from the title ^_^


AN: I am a fan of the NeverEnding Story along with Labyrinth, and I noticed how similar they were. I finally decided a parody was in order as I have yet to see such a pairing, at least not to my knowledge; there might be one out there somewhere. ^_^  
  
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The NeverEnding Labyrinth  
Chapter 1  
  
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The narrator spoke quietly in the darkness of the beginning of our tale. Its voice soft and androgynous so that it had no gender to be discerned as it told the tale we would hear today. It, unlike the voices various beings in existence, never grew tired of telling stories. It was always telling stories, you just had to listen for it. But, that is enough of the narrator for now, its tale is for another day.  
  
"Sarah Williams was a lovely teenage girl who loved to read and exercise her expansive imagination on a regular basis. She had long mahogany hair and beautiful hazel eyes that danced with glee as she delved into realms of fantasy. She would often dress up and act out her flights of fancy with dreams that one day she would become an actress like her mother. Her real mother.  
  
"There in lied the bane of her existence. Like every good fairy princess she too had a wicked stepmother that was always at odds with her. She was envious of her young step-daughter's beauty and we intelligence. She didn't like the dreamy look that always filled Sarah's eyes for she had lost that long ago and never had gotten over the pain of the real world. She silently vowed to drive the dreams of fantasy out of her step-daughter's head for good.  
  
"But, luckily, Sarah's belief of magic and all that is good never dwindled under her step-mother's continuous barrage of torturous treatment. Sarah was old enough that she could have ran away, she had other relatives she could have stayed with. She only stayed to keep close eye on her father, even if it seemed her step-mother's cruelty didn't extend to him. She didn't want to chance it.  
  
"And now we come to the beginning of today's tale. I tell this tale in the hope that the belief in magic, in worlds of fantastic things will be kept alive. For if that belief dies, so do those worlds..."  
  
Sarah ran out of the house in a frenzy of tears. She stopped at the bottom of the front steps and looked up at the front door. She couldn't stay there any longer, she couldn't. She turned away from the house and looked down the street. Her hair was in a long French braid down her back. She wore a medieval looking off the shoulder peasant top of an off-white color with lowriding jean shorts. She calmed a bit as the cool breeze brushed against her skin.  
  
She needed to go cool off a bit. She sighed and decided to make her way to her usual getaway, the library. Whenever she felt unhappy, or just because, she would spend hours there reading in a corner in the back curled up. The librarians all knew her by name now and were all good friends. She chatted with them often between books.  
  
Turning a corner, Sarah nearly walked into a portly man standing outside a store hanging a sign. She took a couple steps back and blushed.  
  
"Oh, excuse me, sir," she said with a smile and looked at the store front. It was new. It was bookstore. Her smile broadened.  
  
"I take it you are a fan of the written word by that grin on your face," the elderly man said good-naturedly.  
  
"Am I that obvious?"  
  
"Would you care to take a look around?" he held open the door and motioned inside. "I was just opening the shop up and getting it ready."  
  
She nodded and stepped inside. She inhaled the musty scent of aged books and the crisp scent of new books, mingled together for one of her favorite smells in the world. She made her way through the aisles, picking up books and looking them over before replacing them on the rack. The old shopkeeper went about his business in the back.  
  
As if drawn by some unseen force, she was compelled to a pile of dusty old books in the corner. On top was a thick book with a worn cover. On the front cover was a metal insignia that shown as if new, though. How odd, she thought to herself as she picked it up. She brushed her hand over the metal and was startled to find it was very warm.  
  
"The NeverEnding Story..." Sarah read the title of the book that was emblazoned on the cover. With a sense of awe she opened the book and looked at the picture drawn at the beginning of the first chapter. She was pretty much Sarah's opposite in nearly every way, and more than Sarah knew at the time since there were things that can't be told just from a drawing.  
  
Sarah's features were dark and she was on the tall side for a female. Her face soft and feminine. The girl in the picture was petite with a strong determined jaw and upturned nose that should have not gone together, but looked at place on her. She had pale skin and full red lips. Her eyes were large and slightly slanted, a luminous crystal blue. Her blonde hair fell in long silken waves nearly to her hips, with cornrows to pull it back just under two inches from her face. She wore blue tights on her legs that went down into floppy black leather knee boots and came from under a black miniskirt. Her top was little more than a black bra. A sword hung from her hip and on her back was a quiver full of arrows and a bow to shoot them.  
  
The girl, more like young warrior woman, stood at a gate. She looked up at it contemplating, maybe thinking of how to get in. She was obviously on a quest. Sarah was intrigued and wanted to read to find out about this unknown warrior. Was she an amazoness...or a huntress...even a sorceress? Maybe a woodland faerie? She just had to find out. Sarah just had to read the NeverEnding Story.  
  
She turned towards the back of the store where the elderly shopkeeper was in his storeroom. "Mr. uh..."  
  
"Coriander," he came out of the storeroom and walked towards her.  
  
"How much for this one, Mr. Coriander?"  
  
He peered at it and shook his head. Something mysterious passed over his features and he took the book from her. "That one is not for sale. But I have some newer editions of that story in the back. I'll go find one. It is a very good book." He set the book on the counter on his way back into the storeroom.  
  
Sarah got this odd feeling deep in her soul. She walked over to the counter and picked the book back up. Being a good girl, the compulsion that stole over her was very alien. There was just something about this book. She glanced back to see Mr. Coriander still distracted with finding the book. She dug in her pocket and pulled out her babysitting money. She tossed it on the counter before running out of the store clutching the book to her chest.  
  
She couldn't read the book at home, she knew as much. Her step-mother would find her and take the book, the book she so felt belonged with her. She knew where she would be safe, the library, so she ran off in that direction.  
  
She entered the library and waved to the women at the counter as she made her way to her usual spot. They were used to her curling up in the back of the children's section, long after she ceased to be a child. She even had received her own key, for she often stayed back there even after they left to finish her books. She curled up as usual with the book open in her lap. She flipped it to the first chapter, pausing to study the drawing once more. Then she began.  
  
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The Underground was a beautiful land full of magic and a variety of fantastic creatures never before seen by human eyes. There were mostly plains with a forest to the North and a sea to the East, and lodged to the South was an awesome sight. A great labyrinth stretched for a great distance, and in the center the Ivory Castle surrounded by the Goblin City. In the Ivory Castle lived the Goblin-like Emperor. (Okay, at this moment a minute of pause for chuckles of amusement or even full-out laughter. Now that we have that out of our systems, on with the story.) He ruled over the Undergound and its people, beloved and feared by all.  
  
Near the forest, on the night of a full moon a small gathering of Undergound citizens were gathered around a small fire in a small camp. They had met up and decided for safety purposes to travel together. All were so different that it was a wonder to see them all together as a group. They might have marveled at this, too, had not their purpose been so grim. There were problems in the Underground.  
  
"It started small," a small gnome lamented. "We didn't even think anything of it until it had grown so large. Then people started disappearing."  
  
"The same thing happened to my village," commented a fox-like creature. "But, now there are only a few of us left." His noble steed whined beside him and he reached out a paw to pat it's head comfortingly.  
  
Between them sat a large furry rock-shipper. He was huge and strong, but like others of his species, not too bright. "Grolog scaaared."  
  
"We all are," said the hooded figure standing guard in the shadows. The voice was feminine and the figure slight. "We all are."  
  
"As soon as we get to the Goblin-like Emperor, I am sure he will know what to do." The gnome nodded, sure of this.  
  
"Emperor powerful and strong," Grolog said with a nod of his furry head.  
  
The fox creature gnawed on a stick while he thought. Then he spoke. "Hopefully he knows how to stop it and maybe even how to get our friends back. Hopefully the...whatever it is...hasn't gotten the emperor yet."  
  
"Don't talk like that," the gnome said reaching over to prod the fox creature. "One, you'll scare Grolog and we don't need a scared rock-shipper on our hands. Two, if we lose hope then we might as well turn back now."  
  
"Yes," the female in the shadows spoke again. "Hope is the one thing that will keep us going." The hood moved as she cocked her head to the side in contemplation. "What exactly is it that we are running from?"  
  
"It's...well...its like land that was there...just isn't there a few seconds later."  
  
"And then people are just gone," the fox creature shivered.  
  
"So they just become nothing..." she said quietly.  
  
"Nothing scarey," Grolog whined pitifully.  
  
"Yes, Grolog..." she became alert and peered into the darkness beyond their camp.   
  
She backed towards them slowly. They all became alert to her movements and looked at her questioningly. She pointed into the darkness with a trembling hand. Then she spun on them and cried out.  
  
"The nothing comes this way!"  
  
They all jumped up with amazing speed and took off towards the South and the labyrinth. The female had had a good start on them and was far ahead of the other three. Grolog was a bit slow at getting up and following, he was far behind with the Nothing catching up to him. There was a loud cry and they knew he had been taken.  
  
"Keep going," the female yelled to the other two. But, she needn't have, they were running for their lives as fast as they could.  
  
The fox creature's steed stumbled over a rough patch and twisted one of it's ankles. The ride went down and the fox creature went tumbling. Canine whines were heard for a few moments and then silence once again. At this the gnome paused to look over his shoulder and that was all it took. He was gone too.  
  
The Nothing seemed to slow down after that, as if sated for the time being. The female kept running until she came upon a small river. She did a mid-air flip and landed on the island in the center, then with another flip she was on the opposite bank. Finally, she did turn to look. The Nothing had stopped.  
  
She paused only seconds to catch her breath before turning and continuing towards the labyrinth. At least now taking a more leisurely pace until the Nothing decided to speed up again.  
  
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Sarah felt a bit of pity for the characters. Grolog had seemed like such a gently creature, and to be gone so soon. The fox creature and his steed, stumbling and being taken. The gnome pausing out of concern only to be taken next. She felt sorry even more for the mysterious female who had to go on without her companions. She must feel so lonely.  
  
It had started to rain and the lights everywhere else in the library had been turned off when the librarians had left awhile ago. She was all by herself with the storm outside. Her stomach grumbled in symphony with the thunder. She put the book aside for a moment and got up. She headed for the counter, knowing where Lisa kept her stash of snacks. She had raided it on many occasions when staying late.  
  
She grabbed a soda and a bag of chips before heading back to her cozy little corner. She was just settling in when she heard a noise at the window. It could have just been the storm, but something made her look up. She was startled to see a white owl perched on the windowsill outside. She gasped and then relaxed. It was probably just looking for shelter from the rain outside. So, she wasn't the only one sitting alone at the library, using it for sanctuary from the cruel world. She smiled at that thought and nodded to the owl, feeling not so scared by its presence anymore.  
  
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The female figure finally found herself outside the labyrinth. Other citizens of the Underground were gathered out there. She walked among them quietly, listening to their chatter. Their stories of friends and family lost to the Nothing.  
  
"Someone must brave the labyrinth to get to the Goblin-like Emperor!" exclaimed an odd bird-like creature. "Only brave warriors of pure soul can make it through and we need the emperor's help soon...as in two days ago soon."  
  
"But where will we find our champion?" asked a plump female gnome.  
  
"Here," the female threw off her cloak and stepped forward. Her blonde hair fell free around her, she held her bow in her hand. She held her chin high. "I am the last of the plain's elves, Aerysia." Her pointed ears just poked from beneath her hair. "We are fierce warriors, all of us. I am one of the best, I will make it through to the emperor and get us help from the Nothing."  
  
The citizens look at each other in awe. They all finally nodded, no one else volunteering to be the one to go through the labyrinth.  
  
Aerysia smiled and turned to the labyrinth. "I will not fail you." She said before going in search of the gates. 


End file.
